18 February 2013

George Washington's vision has been published from time to time and is recorded in the Library of Congress.[...]The place was Valley Forge, in the cold and bitter winter of 1777.

Washington's army suffered several reverses and the situation was desperate. Food was scarce. The Continental Congress was not sending supplies or money.

Some of the troops did not even have shoes to wear in the snow. Many soldiers were sick and dying from disease and exposure.

Morale was at an all-time low and there was great agitation in the Colonies against continued effort to secure our freedom from England. Nevertheless, General Washington was determined to see the struggle through.

WASHINGTON'S OWN WORDS

"This afternoon, as I was sitting at this table engaged in preparing a dispatch, something seemed to disturb me. Looking up, I beheld standing opposite me a singularly beautiful female. So astonished was I, for I had given strict orders not to be disturbed, that it was some moments before I found language to inquire the cause of her presence. A second, a third and even a fourth time did I repeat my question, but received no answer from my mysterious visitor except a slight raising of her eyes.

"By this time I felt strange sensations spreading through me. I would have risen but the riveted gaze of the being before me rendered volition impossible. I assayed once more to address her, but my tongue had become useless, as though it had become paralyzed.

"A new influence, mysterious, potent, irresistible, took possession of me. All I could do was to gaze steadily, vacantly at my unknown visitor. Gradually the surrounding atmosphere seemed as if it had become filled with sensations, and luminous. Everything about me seemed to rarefy, the mysterious visitor herself becoming more airy and yet more distinct to my sight than before. I now began to feel as one dying, or rather to experience the sensations which I have sometimes imagined accompany dissolution. I did not think, I did not reason, I did not move; all were alike impossible. I was only conscious of gazing fixedly, vacantly at my companion.

"Presently I heard a voice saying, `Son of the Republic, look and learn,'

Main Title: The history of a remarkable vision which appeared toGeneral George Washington, at Valley Forge, on thebirth, progress and destiny of the United States, asrelated by him to a confidential officer.